New NavNGo software for Xite GPS

[creativepart]

I received the new SD card for my Xite system to change the GPS from Rand McNally (discontinued) to the new NavNGo GPS that comes on new Xite infotainment systems. It's costs $250 and is available from Riverpark's tech support dept. You just pop out the old SD card and insert the new one. That's all.

I haven't used it for travel yet, but the setup was easy and I was able to add the first stop on my upcoming trip after Labor Day. We'll see how it goes then.

I was very used to Rand McNally and had no real problems using that software. My favorite thing was designing my whole RV trip using my desktop computer and then importing it into the RAND system. I used RAND's Mapmaker website to set up the destinations.

I don't know if anything like that is available for NavNGo, but I'll be looking around for that over the next few days.

Here are some photos of the new GPS system:

[creativepart]

I took a look at the "NaviExtras" website to see about Map Updates. It seems they are $79.95 for a year. This is for USA only - though you can add maps for most everywhere in the world to your purchase.

Here's how you update your maps:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2mvU5blWrA

[creativepart]

I downloaded the Mac version of the iGO "Naviextras Toolbox" and installed it without any problems on my iMac.

I used a card reader to connect the toolbox to my NavNGo SD card and it was smooth sailing.

First, I learned that everything was up to date on the new card and the toolbox said there was nothing to update - software, maps, POIs or anything. The "History" function said my card has the following maps installed:

Map of USA and Canada 2021 Q4
mDealType9837729004 - title Expiration: 18 August 2023

By the way, you'll need to make an account a www.naviextras.com and select Xite Solutions as your device type. An account is just an email address and password - they haven't asked for any other info.

I made a backup of the SD card via the tool box, but I have no idea where that was saved. It might be on the SD card, but I couldn't find it. And I don't see it on my computer. It's possible it was saved on the Naviextras server.

I wondered if the new SD card was keyed to my Xite core unit like the previous SD card was and it seems to be. My card info shows a unique device ID number.

Hope all this helps you folks. I take a month-long 2500 mi trip starting the day after labor day so that will be the first major use of the system.

[creativepart]

As I said previously, I have purchased and installed the new NNG SD card for my Xite GPS.

I'm leaving in 3-days for a 2500 mile 5-week trip to Colorado and spent time with the system when getting ready for the departure. And, I gotta say so far I really do not like this new system. If you thought the RAND system was clunky wait until you try to work with this system.

I put a complete trip plan on RV Trip Wizzard and exported the trip. According to NNG it can be imported by saving the trip as a KML file in a folder on the SD card. But all attempts at this have been unsuccessful. So, today I spent a couple of hours trying to manually add my trip to device.

I think I've discovered through lots of trial and error how to do make this work but it's not like you think and it's certainly not like the logical way you'd think you'd make this work. It's really like they just want you to add new routes on the day you are traveling, one at a time. And, when setting up a route while you are in Texas it is very difficult to tell the system you want to set up a route to a different state.

I am going to hedge my bets on this new software. I'm going to set up my route on Rand McNally's TripMakr website and import it on to the RAND SD card and carry it with me as a backup. Then if I want to give up on NNG I can just change out the SD card and keep going.

Oh, any another thing - if you used any of the extended features on the RAND system like, fuel records, maintenance records, camping checklists, etc will those are all gone on the NNG system. I used the fuel records app. I religiously added every gallon of gas I've purchased since day one 5-years ago. But with the NNG system. That's all for naught.

If you haven't purchased the new SD card you may want to wait and see what RAND does - they have talked about continuing to produce maps for the system, but to start charging for them.